seahawk37's blog

Since 1992 the US Men's basketball team has been known as the best team in the world.  They assembled the best players in the US and won by an average of 48.3 points a game in 1992 on rout to win a gold medal in Barcelona.  They accomplished the same feat in 1996, and 2000.  However, in 2004 the US had to struggle to even make it past the preliminary round with a 3-2 record, including a 19 point loss to Puerto Rico.  For the first time in many years it seemed that the US wasn't the "Dream Team," the team who was a lock to win every game.   In the end, with dogged determination the US managed to win a bronze medal against Lithuania - a team they had lost to in the opening round. 

Every morning at school during second period we are "supposed" to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it takes about a total of 15 seconds.  However, I am amazed by how many students I see use this time to talk with each other about personal matters or simply don't even stand up.  As an American, this truly offends me.  We have men fighting everyday just so we can have the right to recite that pledge, and yet many can't even give 15 seconds to recite it.  When I lived in South America for 7 years when I was younger ( my family was a missionary family)  the school would meet in the courtyard every Monday to sing the ecuadorian national anthem.  To me, people there seemed to show much more respect towards the flag compared to what I see here. 

So the NFL Draft is over and people are still questioning Houston's move of picking Mario Williams over Reggie Bush.  However, have you considered the fact that Houston has a very good starting running back in Domanick Davis and plus, Reggie Bush is obviously not an everydown back- he doesn't have the endurance to do so.  I liked how the Texans defended their pick by saying the last several Super Bowl champions had their teams built around defense.  Mario Williams will prove I think to be a very reliable DE in his career.

OK, if you are one of those people who hates Wal-Mart then you probably won't like my post.

I personally have nothing wrong with Wal-Mart, to me they are just another success of capitalism and we shouldn't hold that against them.  If they are able to provide a cheaper product with the same quality as other places, good for them.  People are not forced to work there, or forced to shop there.  I feel the same way about companies like Microsoft who also simply took advantage of opportunities and succeeded.  I hear people complain about Microsoft all the time yet when I ask them why they don't buy an Apple if they hate Microsoft so much they have no reply.  I really believe that people simply like to complain about companies and people who succeeded.  Like I said before, that's the beauty of capitalism, you can shop at a variety of places and you can work at a variety of places.  If you don't like how Wal-Mart runs their business then don't shop there and don't apply for  a job there.     

With baby boomers beginning to retire in 2008, I have put a lot of thought in the problems Social Security will be facing for the next several decades.  The problem is that there simply is that baby boomers did not produce enough children themselves and therefore there is simply not enough taxpaying adults per retiree.  Statistics show that currently around 3.2 taxpayers per retiree, but that number is expected to drop to 2 taxpayers per retiree by 2030.  Addtionally, if something  is not done to resolve the problem, it is suggested that by the year 2040 Social Security and Medicare will consume around 60% of the national budget.  That's 60 cents per $1 the government receives in taxes, leaving only 40  cents per dollar to run everything else.  The problem cannot be ignored and that is why I thought  of a solution to the problem and here is what I think could help solve the problem.